Technology Committee Report to Curley SPC November 6, 2013

Technology Committee Who we are: Parents, teachers, and administrators. We would like more members! Active members: Parents/Grandparents: Scott MacIntosh, Sunny Schwartz Heshan Berent-Weeramuni, Mike Clancy, Dominic Burdick; Staff: Kate Davis (teacher and parent), Connie Redden, Maria Monteiro-Roby Timeline: Meeting since Spring 2013 What we’ve done: Inventory of tech equipment Teacher survey Met with Principal Grassa twice

Results of Equipment Inventory June 2013 The good news: Every teacher has a laptop Many teachers have overhead projectors Mobile laptop cart with 28 new MacBook Pros (intended for upper school) and stationary lab in upper school The challenges: The computers in the classrooms are old and don’t meet BPS’ minimum requirements A few grades have Infocus projectors or share them, but not most (some bought with teacher’s money) Nearly every teacher is using their personal printer

Selected Result from Teacher Survey Conducted August respondents

Teacher Survey Summary The current state of technology in the school is in extreme disrepair, from non-functioning equipment, to out-of-date equipment, to insufficient equipment and lack of consumable supplies (ink cartridges, paper for printers, bulbs for projectors). Many teachers purchase their own equipment and supplies to be used at the school. Many teachers do not know how to access the equipment and facilities that are available (the portable computer laptop lab and computer lab). 72% had not used the computer lab. If used, 91% not all equipment was working.

Computer Use The majority of teachers use technology as part of their daily activities, such as scheduling meetings, lesson planning, and classroom instruction.

Technology Use in Classrooms

Is Equipment Up-to-date? 89%: the equipment they have is not sufficient for their teaching needs

Adequate Supplies?

New Equipment Request

Student Computer Literacy 79% report less than 50% of their students are computer literate or they don’t know

Comfort Level Using Technology 70% are very or somewhat comfortable; only 13% very or somewhat uncomfortable

Comfort Level Teaching Technology 45% neither comfortable or uncomfortable or somewhat uncomfortable Only 16% very comfortable

Recommendations #1: Computer Labs Get the upper school lab in use by servicing equipment, training teachers on passwords needed, and developing an electronic sign out system. Get the mobile laptop cart into use immediately by training teachers on steps to check it out, use it, and developing an electronic sign out sheet.

Recommendations #2: Technology Liaison 1 st Step: Stipend a Technology Liaison to: Maintain computers in labs and classrooms (trouble shooting problems, software installations, calling help desk when needed) Train teachers on use of computer labs Cost: $2,000/year

Recommendations #3: Get nearly every Curley family on line with Tech Goes Home. 30 families participate in training and get computer for $50 Launch an all out campaign at Curley to let families know about options through Tech Goes Home for Internet access for $10/mo

Recommendations #4: Equipment Purchase Focus fundraising/donation efforts on the purchase the following for each classroom in need: 1.Printer/Scanner with 2 years consumable supplies. 2.Digital Projector with Document Camera and replacement bulbs. 3.Smartboard. 4.Increased number of mobile labs (minimum 1 additional. Long-term goal: 1 per grade)

Equipment Cost Estimates ItemModel# to ordercost eachsubtotal printer/scannerCanon PIXMA MG $ $ 2, ink catridgePG-240XL/CL-241XL200 $ $ 8, paperNavigator Premium (NMP1124)200 $ $ 5, infocus projectorInFocus IN11450 $ $ 17, projector bulbsInFocus Replacement Lamp50 $ $ 4, document cameraTT-12 Document Camera50 $ $ 32, misc Cables-1 $ 2, smartboardB $ 1, $ 69, laptop cart $39,722 Below is a rough estimated of the funds needed to supply each classroom with equipment from the previous list, assuming outfitting 50 classrooms. Costs were taken from prices listed from Amazon and other sources from the web and do not reflect any large volume discount savings. 1 st phase: Printer/Scanner for each class 2 nd phase: Smartboard or Infocus Projector 3 rd phase: Additional laptop carts

Recommendations #5: Teacher Training Once there is equipment to use in the classrooms and/or more labs, promote OIIT trainings to teachers on using the equipment and software for educational purposes.